draw your swords
by mornings'glory
Summary: "They lie there, two friends, two lovers, two broken people, slowly learning how to match the pieces of their crushed souls." / Percabeth; post HoO series


_Hi there! Haven't written anything in a while but after I finished House of Hades I desperately wanted to write something, and this finally popped into my head. Hope you like it._

* * *

_See her come down, through the clouds__  
__I feel like a fool__  
__I aint got nothing left to give__  
__Nothing to lose_

_/_

Heavy rain drops crush against his skin and clothes, sinking in. He watches clouds as they move quickly, covering sun.

His fingers are clutching tufts of grass, ripping it away from the ground. He dibs his hands into wet soil, already able to feel dirt under his nails.

Percy closes his eyes, drowning into the sound of wind, trees, maybe a singing bird. Even here he's capable of hearing a wave of water hitting a cliff. Once it was soothing, but not now. It bothers him, more and more with each hit.

Camp half-blood, what Percy always considered as home, has changed, somehow. It's not the place it used to be. Not for him, not for her, not for them. They changed.

"Hey." Her voice, so soothing, so soft, comes from somewhere above him.

He opens his green eyes, immediately meeting hers.

"Hi." He answers simply, holding her gaze, but then moving to look at her body, her golden hair sticking to her face and back. She's always been fit, but now she's skinny, her eyes tired, bags under her eyes easily showing, as if she hasn't been sleeping for weeks. He wonders if he looks like that, too.

Annabeth stands there awkwardly, hands on hips, not really knowing what should she do next.

Percy smiles sadly and pats a place beside him.

"Lie with me." He asks and she rolls her eyes first, but after a moment she get herself comfortable on the grass next to him.

They don't speak for a longer while, just lying next to each other, staring at the sky. It has stopped raining by now so the sun starts to shine again, looks like it's about to wake up to life.

"How do you feel?" He asks, breaking the silence. He turns his head to her side, willing to meet her stare.

"Like shit." She admits out of sudden, turning her head as well, her grey eyes hitting him like a storm.

He chuckles and she joins.

In response, he just reaches for her hand and laces his fingers through hers. Se squeezes it tightly, clutching it to her chest, not letting go, never.

/

Percy's fingers delicately remove her bra. He was an expert by now, as it happened more and more often, in a desperate call to feel closeness. She remembers their beginnings, when he'd told her not to help him and she started to tremble from laughing.

Now, when he pulled her into his arms, she stood still for a moment before letting her arms to slip around his waist instinctively. He feels warm, like a pillow that helps you to get to sleep.

He lies them on his bed in Cabin Three, and she stares somewhere behind the window, into the dark night and full moon as he places soft kisses on her neck.

She caresses his back up and down, burying her face into the crook of his neck.

"I love you." Comes her muffled voice.

/

"Screw you, Percy!" She yells as she storms out of his apartment and he follows.

"What's your deal?" He screams, his head buzzing. "I just said we could go on this mission, not that we _have to_! I don't see the problem."

She stops walking abruptly, not turning around, head down. She breathes in and out, in and out.

"I don't _want_ to go!" She walks to him, his eyes more green than usual. "I don't want to be part of this world anymore, I don't want to be a _demigod_!" She starts to cry, and, oh gods, she _hates_ crying, but she can't help the tears as they stream down her face and his expression softens a little. "I didn't choose it and I don't deserve it, _we don't deserve it,_ Percy." She finishes with a shaky whisper.

Something in the way he stares at her makes her feel like she's naked and people are throwing little stones at her. Too small to make a permanent scar, but big enough to bruise.

He seems to realize that she's uncomfortable so he grabs her face in his hand, rubbing circles on her cheeks with his thumbs.

"This world; demigods, I mean; this world is a part of you and it's not going to drift away, you can't just walk away from it, it'll always find you. We didn't choose it, but we're destined to be heroes." He says quietly, but to her it's loud enough to get to her heart. "We're screwed either way." He adds and she nods.

"Hey, where's that smile of yours?" He asks.

She raises her gaze and a small, lovesick smile spreads across her face.

"There it is." Percy nods and wipes away last tear from her face. He pulls her close to him, putting his chin on the top of her head.

She breathes calmly into his chest, listening to his heartbeat.

_/_

_I see them, snakes come through the ground__  
__They choke me to the bone__  
__They tie me to their wooden chair__  
__Here are all my songs_

_/_

Percy wakes up with a terrified scream, pulling himself up so quickly that it hurts.

After his breath calms down a little, he notices that television is on and Annabeth is watching _That 70's show_ in attempt to light up the mood in her own head.

"Bad dream?" She asks, her eyes not ripping away from screen.

He nods and brushes his hair with his fingers, then buries his face in his hands.

"What was it this time?" Her voice reaches him, her hand soothing his back hesitantly.

"Um… One of the moments when we've been _there_." He confesses and lies down on his pillows again.

She lies down next to him, her hands under her face, grey eyes hazy. She stares at him so intensely that she might as well burn a whole in his profile.

"Do you think we'll ever get through this? That we will get over it?"

When he doesn't answer, she tries again.

"Does it ever pass, Percy?"

He slowly meets her gaze, shaking his head.

"No."

"Never?"

"That's a long time."

They stare at each other a little bit more, the only source of sound was Ashton Kutcher's laugh.

Then, he presses her against his chest and she wraps her arms around him protectively.

"Turn this off." She pleads and he reaches for remote and after five second it's completely dark.

They lie there, two friends, two lovers, _two broken people_, slowly learning how to match the pieces of their crushed souls, again.

_ /_

_So, come on Love, draw your swords__  
__Shoot me to the ground__  
__You are mine, I am yours__  
__Let's not fuck around_

_/_

"I love you." He whisperes into her ear, just as they both are on the edge of falling asleep.

_I love you, too_, words that does not need to be spoken.

They drift away with smiles on their faces.

* * *

_This story is based on Angus&Julia Stone song "Draw Your Swords"._

_Reviews are lovely._


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